Ties to Bind
By Breaeden Swordwind
A/N: Nothing particularly interesting to say about this one… just the normal reminder to review when you are done.
Finally they were able to pass by the fallen rubble that had blocked their way to the den of Crosell. It had been a pain to walk all the way to the flame drenched caves only to have to return to Airyglyph castle at the bidding of some god damn rabbit and retrieve the necessary material for a ring that would clear the stones away from the door. It had infuriated Albel with its pointlessness. He wanted to tear the bones out of that furball and use them to make the ring! Heh, even if it didn't work at least he would get some measure of pleasure out of the exercise.
It had been a painfully annoying journey to get here in the first place. And not just because of the long hours of walking with only an intermittent battle to prevent him from succumbing to the ravages of boredom. That infernal wench was being a pest as well. She had gotten still stronger since the battle in the canyon and unfortunately his weeks in the dungeon had taken some of the edge off his fighting ability. He was now in the unenviable position of playing catch up. It was sickening to him. She outpaced him but he had quickly closed the gap and the two of them were now dead even in ability, though both claimed they were the superior one. Now whenever battle was joined the two of them fought with an unquenchable fury, an unspoken rivalry burning between the two as Albel sought to be lifted above her and to prove his ascendance from the realm of maggots and Nel sought to keep him weak and pathetic. Albel cast another venomous glare at her back. He despised the loathsome woman, who seemed to validate herself and her cause by keeping him weak and evil. Still he fought with all his hatred. He found that imagining his enemies were Nel infused him with a rage and bloodlust that horrified both the enemy and the other members of the party. Ironically, thought when she had been attack by an enemy from behind it was he who had dashed in to take the blow and kill the enemy. Afterwards, the wench, in her never ending quest to prevent him from gaining honor, had asked to heal him so that he would not have the glory of having saved her without repayment. It would damage his rekindling pride to have been healed by her. Not only that it would have given her another excuse for demonizing him as a pathetic dependent.
Not only that but the foolish woman had once again showed her weakness to him when she spoke of her detest for the killing of the dragons in order to harvest her body parts. He had pointed out that what she did was no different. Murder is murder whether it is for a cause or for pleasure, to try and rationalize it only did a disservice to the one you killed. It turned them from a human to an obstruction. From a warrior to an idiot too blinded by "untruths" to see your "holy righteousness". Such thinking was far more disgusting then the thousands of massacres that had occurred during history. When he had said this to her she had shouted a quick, "Your just like-!" before snapping her mouth shut. His curiosity was almost piqued at the thought there was someone out there with a similar philosophy but in the end he had not asked about it.
He didn't know whether to be glad or annoyed that Urlssa had remained almost completely unchanged since…his last visit. It was comforting in a way, being able to tread down the same paths that he had before his father's death, this time with the potential and power to change the outcome but still it caused that day to repeat itself over and over in his mind. The confident smile his father had beamed down on him as they stepped into the chamber, the sickening smell of melted flesh and skin, the stench, the- no! He must push such thoughts out of his mind. But still they came tempting him with the beauty of the pain they inflicted on his mind. It was odd how comforting it was to torture himself with these memories. Man could be a masochistic beast it seemed. Or maybe it was just him.
The stone cones were topped with billowing genies of smoke and ash that floated inside the caverns belly. It was like walking though the innards of some great dragon that had laid itself down to sleep and had been resting for so long it had been consumed by the earth, which had yet to staunch the burning in the creatures heart. The pools of lava bubbled sickeningly like digestive juices and menaced what little ground was left for the humans to tread on. The air itself seemed to be glowing with a faint orange haze that made it difficult to see but still Albel had led the way stride familiarly down the path he had trod a thousand time in memory. It had been to his great frustration to find stones blocking the way to Crosell's inner sanctum but fortunately they had been able to find an alchemist capable of making a ring that would remove the stones. Only problem was it was necessary for them to walk all the way back to Airyglyph in order to retrieve the necessary ingredients. So they wasted still more days on that exercise.
Now they walked into the voluminous grotto where Albel had taken his Ascension of Flame ceremony many years ago. The place still seemed to reek of his father's flesh. Ashes littered the ground and in his mind they were all from his father, all little reminders of his weakness. There was a wide fissure in the ceiling that normally allowed dragons to fly in and out of the cavern but for now it let in a strong breeze that kicked the ashes up. Albel breathed in and inhaled the ash and it was sickening. He could almost taste the loathing all those who had died had for him. Why should he, just another failure of the Ascension of Flame ceremony, be allowed to live when they were only allowed to stay on earth in the form of mournful ash? The noonday light flowed easily into the cave and allowed them too see quite clearly the massive dragon lying lazily in front of them. The thing was colossal, it made the castle back in Airyglyph seemed a mere shack and its wings seemed easily capable of bloating out the sky when he flew overhead. His skin was an earthy orange, not unlike the sun baked stones of the Kirlsa mountains, and the large scales were great plates of organic steel that overlapped one another in precise geometric fashion. His main limbs were to large hind legs, which were currently folded neatly beneath his girth, as well as two smaller forelimbs. Its muzzle held a kit of bone-made broadswords that gleamed menacingly as thin tendrils of smoke wound there way from his mouth and nostrils.
Suddenly, one massive eye opened to reveal a deep burgundy orb that scanned slothfully the mortals arrayed in front of him. Albel looked down at the ground and let his hair hide his face hoping he would not be recognized but his hopes were soon dashed. The dragon voiced bellowed though he didn't seem to intend it to come off quite as loud as it did, "The ceremony cannot be retaken." Crosell then closed his eye and seemed to go back to sleep.
"That's not why we're hear, worm!" Albel barked back hoping to avoid the attention to his past by focusing on their present situation. He gestured viciously with his living hand as he spoke.
The eye once more opened, this time it seemed to have a curious glimmer to it but still seemed to be mostly bored with the humans, "Oh? Then why are you here?"
This time Fayt stepped forward, "Crosell, at this moment the people of this planet and the planet itself is being attacked by invaders from another world. The nations have accorded a peace and are gathering there remaining soldiers and weapons. We have a cannon that can be used to fight against the enemy's massive hovering vessals, however, they have not the range to hit them. That is why we need you to bear them on you back so we can get close enough to fire."
This time both of Crosell's eyes opened angrily and his head rose from the ground a few feet to glare at them. The smoke coming from his mouth and nose darkened ominously, "What insult is this? That I the lord of dragons should have to bear the creations of man upon my back like a common mule! I refuse!"
Fayt pleaded with the beast, "Is there anyway we could convince you to do this? It is for the sake of this entire world, a world which you live on as well!"
"NO! I refuse! I will not consider it!"
"You will do it Lord Crosell." A voice cut in from nowhere.
"This is a disgrace! I have already fallen in pride when I lost before but I shall never recover from this humiliation!" Crosell snarled back at the voice while looked around for where the voice was coming from. Albel recognized the voice and his forehead furrowed angrily. How can he be here?
"Don't worry about it, Marquis. I shall free you from being bound to me and you will no longer be subjected to the humiliation of being subject to the whims of a human. That seems like a more than equitable trade." The voice said evenly.
The dragon seemed to ponder the deal for a moment before giving a reluctant nod. "I don't really have a choice. Damn me for even accepting that challenge!"
Finally, Maria shouted out, "Who the hell is there?" saying what everybody but Albel was thinking.
"I'm sorry." The voice said with a slight sneer in his voice, "I suppose I should come out into the light." With that the person, the boy, stepped forward.
Nel, Fayt, and Cliff shouted a name in unison while Albel snarled a different one, all receiving a smirk from the young man. His platinum hair hung in tufts in front of mud colored eyes, which looked at them with a vicious mirth. His face sliced over with scars beyond counting.
"Black Bird!"
"Kasch!"
"Hello, to you too"
Albel recovered from shock first, "How are you even alive still? It's been years since you went to face Crosell and never returned! Everyone thought you were dead!"
Kasch shrugged, "I wish Crosell had killed me. But he didn't and after defeating the most powerful being I knew of I decided I couldn't be bothered to waste my time with Airyglyph. I have just been floating between the two armies during this war. A mercenary for Airyglyph one week, holding the ranks for Aquaria then next, whatever gives me a decent battle and enough food to survive." Kasch spoke with a condescending smirk both plastered roughly on his face and also hanging on his words. Albel sneered at the boy who was "humoring" him with some half-assed explanation for his actions.
"Tch, whatever worm. But what's the catch? You can't just be helping us out of the kindness of your little black heart." Albel spat
Kasch made a slight brushing motion on his cloak as though some of Albel's spittle had actually gotten on it, "I have my reasons. At the moment they don't conflict with your, esteemed brother. For now, you don't really have the luxury of complaining as I am in possession of the one you need to win your little war."
Albel grunted in defeat before Fayt spoke, "Alright then, you will let us use Crosell?"
"HE WILL 'LET' YOU USE NO ONE! I AM NO ONE'S POSSESSION!" The Marquis bellowed angrily. The entire group, save Albel and Kasch, started coughing as smoke fumes blew through the cavern.
"They meant no offense, Lord Crosell" the white haired Nox brother consoled sarcastically, not bothering to turn around.
Once the fumes had risen and the air was once more breathable Fayt asked forgiveness and politely asked Crosell to bear the weapons of Aquaria on its back. The dragon agreed though not with out an annoyed town infused in his voice. Afterwards, it was decided that the easiest way back to Aquaria would be to ride Crosell back. After initially fighting off this idea the Marquis agreed to let them ride him citing that the embarrassment of carrying there toys would make this trivial.
The flight back to Aquaria took a few hours and the conversation during the ride was limited to Maria, Cliff, and Fayt. Albel was glaring viciously at Kasch and occasionally sparing time to grumble an obscenity toward Nel, letting the wind carry away the words before they reached her ears. Kasch was leaning against one of Crosell's shoulder blades, his eyes closed in either deep thought or deep sleep. Nel seemed distracted more than the others about being so high above the ground and was the one furthest from the dragon's flanks, deeply fearful that she would fall off. The three off-worlders were also effect somewhat by the vertigo but were better able to ignore it and after a few minutes at cruising altitude were comfortable enough to chat.
Suddenly, Albel smirked viciously. The woman was distracted and completely off-balance. This was the perfect time.
"It must be disappointing to you, wench." Albel said to Nel coolly.
Nel, who was straddling Crosell's spine and digging her nails into the scales as best she could, glanced over at him. She seemed instantly suspicious and proceeded cautiously, "What do you mean?"
"Having to ally with us Glyphians. Its only natural after having fought us for so long that you would hate us. Now you have to fight along side us."
Nel clicked her tongue in annoyance, "I do what my queen asks me to. Its not my place to question her."
Albel pretended to muse thoughtfully, "Hmmm… sounds like the maggoty life you Aquarians would choose. Serving out of blind faith."
"The queen is a great person deserving of respect!" Nel barked back at him.
"Why? Cause she was born that way? Ha! You can't be so foolish! Don't you ever have doubts? Ever wonder if she was right? Live for yourself a little, fool."
Nel was starting to become more defensive, "Well… what about you! Don't you ever doubt your king?"
Albel smirked at her, "Don't you even know why I was in the stone coffin?"
Nel shook her head and growled in frustration, Albel could tell she couldn't think straight. Crosell hit a patch of turbulance and he began to vibrate causing the young woman to grip his hide even harder. Albel was unbothered by the roughness of the flight and lay back easily, letting his body rise and fall with the slight motions of Crosell's wings as he altered his course subconsciously to hit the thermals which provided him with the necessary lift to fly. Suddenly Crosell rocked slightly to the right and Nel reached out to grab onto something. Albel smirked malevolently and grasped her hand. She very slowly turned her head to look at him. As expected, she pulled her hand free but the action had served its purpose. For that brief moment she had been dependent on him. He was the one in the position of power and he held dominance over her. Her entire sense of confidence about her strength and his weakness would be thrown off of equilibrium.
"But why I wonder…" whispered Albel, "is it so important to you that you be right?"
Nel was still recovering but she argued as best she could, "I do what I believe!"
Albel sighed in acknowledgement, "Ah, and if a worm is not right then she herself is without value, I see"
Nel growled at him but then was forced to grab Crosell once more as he began a steep descent toward the Aquarian Castle. Albel smirked slightly at seeing the girl so flustered and out of balance. Idiots were indeed quite amusing at times. He then spared a glance toward Kasch who had a maliciously omniscient smirk angling across his face. Maybe Kasch hadn't been sleeping and had been paying attention. Whatever Albel didn't care.
She was furious. Her vision was stained red and she though a blood vessal had burst in her eye. How dare that weak suicidal rodent make her look like a fool. It couldn't even face life without trying to jump off a cliff and acted like it knew the meaning of life! She was thankful that no other members had seen her been batted around like a cat's play thing by a little emotional disturbed bastard. She was the one who had weathered life's test with her sanity intact how could she be so incapable of defending herself?
She opened the door to her room and stepped inside. She had gone through the motions of ordering the engineers to begin attaching the Thunder Arrow to Crosell. The members of the group were once more accomadated with rooms as well, even Kasch and Albel. She had been somewhat amazed to learn that Kasch was actual Albel's adopted brother. That was where she had heard of the scythe and sword fighting style that he was known for. So there were two of them. She would need a lot of herbs for the headache she would no doubt have by the end of the day.
She sighed threw herself down on the bed. Albel had made her feel so weak. She couldn't take much more of this. But what was worse was that not a few days ago Albel had save her life. She had foolishly let herself get separated during a fight and was surrounded by a group of two-legged wingless dragons each about her height. Albel had actually cut his way to her and had put his claw arm in the mouth of one attacking her from behind. He then killed all the creature, taking a few minor wounds. She felt sick afterwards. She owed her life to that wretched creature?
